Adara - Update 184 - March 26, 2012

[cubby420]

Fantastic! Great stuff! 

[canyonjumper]

Great job Battlecat! The swamps are very well done!

              Your friend,
                             Jordan

[noahclem]

Really impressive work with those swamps!    The newer one with the brown TPW is my favorite and really just looks amazing. Also outstanding work in the last update. Your exurban development of that valley is really inspiring, especially since I've been expanding into the hillier parts of my own region.

[sumwonyuno]

That was even better than I was expecting!  Great job!   

[Tomas Neto]

Fantastic work again!!!

[rooker1]

 The last two updates were great and it's cool to see that I have some influence.
I really like how the rocks turned out in that one spot where the rail come close to the waters edge.  It should look diffferent than the surounding rocks as they were laid there by man.  I think it turned out perfect.
I like the railway works yard.  It looks like it was quickly flattened and not too much money spent doing it, very realistic for something that may not get used much.
Every once in a while someone out there comes up with the simpliest solution for things that have bothered me so much for so long and you have done this.  I lay trees down around my hydro lines and end up with trees under the wire lines which I do not like.  Here you have laid down grass and dirt textures to prevent this, what a great idea. I really should have thought about that, but somethimes the simplest things slip by us.

In the next update I have a little question.  The water on the lake side is higher because the culvert acts as a damn as well?  Just seemed a little weird to me, I thought culvert were just hallow drainage tubes to maove water from one side of the road to the other.
I obviously work my way through the pictures as you present them....and when you said there was going to be a swamp, I had something different in mind compared to your end result.  Not that your result didn't turn out great, but I was a little let down.  I would have liked to see alot more of that brown water with more swampy sections.  But know as I think about it more maybe less in this case is more.  Not sure though.  Would it be possible for you to rework this area just for me and if you don't like the end result you don't save?
Another thought....did you fleather out the rocks around the culverts?  It goes from a huge mass of rocks to a nice clean cut straight line.  I would think over some time the rocks would move a little and some may not have been placed nicely to begin with.

I should stop now.
Great pics plus excellent work makes for a very enjoyable visit every time!!

Robin  

[FrankU]

Still beautiful work after so many updates.
You don't get bored with this area don't you?

You never feel the urge to stop this rural area and start a megacity or an industrial hell?

I myself distract myself too often to finish something really. Part of this is my limited time, so my projects proceed very slowly. You have more time, as we all can see.

Good luck! And here's to many more beautiful updates. 

[samerton]

Wow, this is incredibly inspiring to everybody. Great!
I've really got to start using more Mayor mode flora...

[bat]

Nice work on the river! And that part of your region is looking fantastic! Also wonderful pictures of it.
Looking forward to more...

[Battlecat]

cubby420: Thanks, sorry for missing the reply!

Jordan (canyonjumper): Thanks very much!

noahclem: Thanks, I'm really happy with the brown TPW as well.  This is my first time using it actually.

sumwonyuno: Thanks very much!

Tomas Neto: Thanks!

Robin (rooker1): Thanks for your thoughts!  Glad you like how the rail facility turned out.  First things first, the question about the culvert should be cleared up by this little picture I threw together 5 minutes ago. 



The inlet elevation defines the depth of the lake since water higher than that level will flow out through the culvert.  At the lower side, it flows out at a lower elevation to prevent high energy water from going into the backswamp stream.  It is likely there is some sort of structure inside the culvert that would damp out the energy of the water so it isn't flowing with high energy into the swamplands.

I agree about the swamps, I believe I'll be revisiting it at least once more before finishing the tile.  I'm not entirely satisfied with them yet.  Thanks for the feedback!

FrankU: Thanks very much!  I don't feel any strong urge to do that, partially because I have a large city planned for this region.  There's more than enough room for both but I do get a lot of enjoyment out of developing rural areas. 

Sam (samerton): Thanks!  Glad you like it!

bat: Thanks very much!

Update 154
Dunster Bend – Farms

Software issues have reduced today's update to a mere shadow of what I intended.  Two crashes to desktop after 30 minutes of gaming and then discovering that a circuit breaker in my electrical box is arcing have made for an interesting day.  I solved the CTD issue and I've got an electrician coming by tomorrow.  But at least I got something done! 

154-1: I'm taking care of all the farms that touch this border on the west side of the highway.   


154-2: I'm just putting some simple farming here.  These will all carry across the border into the neighboring tile in the future.


154-3: Here's the initial load of farms.  The area between the highway and the hill has something special planned for it. 


154-4: This farm is first on my list.  I had a better farm but then I had a crash. Still, it works!


154-5: Switching to the new growth fields and a quick driveway polishes this up nicely.


154-6: Most of these farms worked out just perfectly so my main focuse was  detailing the field edges and the powerline right of way.


154-7: My trip to Europe last summer, particularly driving around England had a significant impact on my view of urban design.  I love roundabouts! 


154-8: I still have one or two details to add at this end but I've run out of time here. 


154-9: One composite today just to show off what I did manage to accomplish.  Something is better than nothing right? 


Sadly, that's all I've got.  Hopefully I'll be able to get more work done next week! 

[io_bg]

That's one awesome region shot! The farm development along the highway is cool, too

[cubby420]

Nice developments. The new farms don't have quite the same natural feel as your others typically do though. Can't really put my finger on it, but something seems amiss. Maybe they appear too blocky and cookie cutter in those similar sizes lining one road. Maybe I'm just mental. 

Oh...and I think I'm missing a reply 

[noahclem]

That is a beautiful region shot!    The farms looks really nice and I like the RHW, especially the FA section. I like the roundabouts but I'd like the interchange even more if you replaced your ground-to-elevated transitions with on-slope pieces 

I think my reply has gone missing as well   

[samerton]

You are most certainly inspiring me to build some more rural areas. Your pictures look like real life, and the rural areas are unbelievable. 

[metarvo]

It looks like you have a diamond-dumbbell hybrid interchange there, with ramps leading from the highway to the intersecting road but roundabouts leading from the intersecting road to the frontage roads.    Frontage roads are always a must for me when I build highways, and I really like the way yours turned out.  Good update, Battlecat!

[rooker1]

 Now that makes perfect sense.  That's sort of what I was thinking, but just wanted to be sure.
Great work as always.  This tile is really coming along nicely.

Robin 

[mave94]

I've missed a lot!
Great work Battlecat, it doesn't matter how big the update is, but it does matter how good the update is. 
And that is this. I can't wait for the composite animation.

[Reikhardt]

I love the way you shape your town around the landscape, very natural & realistic looking!
And you like English roundabouts  Try living here, then you may form a differing opinion 

[kwakelaar]

Again some innovative detailing, both the work yard and the outlet for the lake. Great to see you keep developing your work.

[Battlecat]

io_bg: Thanks very much!

cubby420: Sorry about missing that reply last time, I think I had a mental break when writing that update.  Thanks for your thoughts and feedback.  The nature of that particular block of farms is exactly as you describe.  They are farms on a straight road with a straight map edge right behind them.  There's not a lot of space to work and these farms won't look truly organic until the neighboring map is in place.  They'll be rounded by the edge of the river on the other side of the map border. 

noahclem: Yeah, I forgot to finish writing the replies and posted it and somehow reviewed it twice without noticing half the replies missing!  Not my finest moment, thanks for your patience and kind words!  Good thought on revising the interchange.  It's a bit late to change it now without risking a lot of damage so I'll just have to live with it.  I'll keep that in mind for the future since there are lots more interchanges in this style out in the distance.

Sam (samerton): Glad you found it inspriring, thanks for you kind words!

metarvo: Well there we go, I didn't know this particular interchange design has an actual name.  But then again, I shouldn't be surprised!  Frontage roads are an absolute necessity.  They're very common in my area, and in most areas where the highway cuts through existing roadways and property! 

Robin (rooker1): Glad you found the explanation helpful!  I made some changes to the swampy area based on your feedback today.  I think it made for good improvements to its character!  It also stands out on the region view better now. 

MrMAvE94: Thanks very much, glad you like it!  Congratulations on deducing my plans for the composite image!  I still haven't sorted out the technical part of this plan though.

Reikhardt: Thanks, glad to hear you enjoy that.  I'm really shooting for a bit of realism plus a bit of idealism.  I'd have to agree that roundabouts aren't perfect in every case, especially on some of the busier highways I was on in England.  On the other hand, they're a great alternative to streetlights and four way stops at every intersection.  Roundabouts are starting to get used more regularly in my local area (Vancouver area of BC) and they're really making a difference at some medium traffic intersections. 

Gjermund (kwakelaar): Thanks very much!

Update 155
Dunster Bend – Golf Course

The headaches with the game continue with 3 crashes this weekend.  I'm getting in the habit of saving every 5 minutes now which of course means the game stopped crashing!  Anyhow, today I did some more work on the swampy area and as suggested by the title, I've added a golf course. 

155-1: Let's get this started.  First things first, I'm going to revise this swampy area a touch.  This is just a quick before picture.


155-2: The problem here is I'm really happy with how it looks already, so this is a revision with minimal demolition.  The east side of the river has some space to work.  Here are the new wet areas. 


155-3: And then the same areas with a rough outline of grass and rushes. 


155-4: And here's the finished area.  I think this is a significant improvement. 


155-5: Here's a bit of detail showing the various pools and plants. 


155-6: Next up is this block of land.  As suggested by the update title, this area is getting a golf course.  In fact, I'm planning on an 18 hole course using the FLOG components as it's called.  These have been burning a hole in my parks list for a long time now.


155-7: First up, here is the clubhouse area. 


155-8: A quick bit of work to add a tree lined access road. 


155-9: So the first thing that is readily apparent when placing these courses is that there isn't sufficient room for all 18 holes on this tile or in the space available.  That's not a problem in Adara.  I'll just run it up to the map edge and finish it at a later date on the neighbouring tile.  10 of the 18 holes fit on this tile. 


155-10: Rather than using the standard trails, I'm using the BSC trail parks to connect the course together.  At the main road, I've used the pedestrian underpass pieces from one of Pegasus' trail park sets.  Trail end pieces from the park set provide seating areas to spend time while waiting for people to finish ahead of you. 


155-11: I'll admit I haven't spent a lot of time on golf courses but I do know that in my area the spaces between holes are forested.  So for a first draft, I've filled the entire area around the holes with seasonal tree lots. 


155-12: Once the trees have grown in, this is the resulting appearance.  I think I might add a bit more open green to a few of the holes just to mix it up a bit. 


155-13: To transition from lots to plopable trees I placed a swath of blank grass lots adjacent to the tree lots as well as adding some random tree lots.  I then covered the works over with a mixture of oak forest and rainforest which are the two primary tree controllers I use. 


155-14: With big changes comes another new composite.  This is number 16 in the series.  As you can see there are two major areas left.  The bottom right area is mostly forest and is just sitting there taunting me.  The other area in the bottom center by the swamp I haven't decided what to do with yet.  I think some housing is likely though although the amount and style is yet to be determined. 


That's all for today.  I'm really interested in feedback on the golf course and alternate options for it.  Especially if you play golf and something doesn't look right.  If anyone knows of any other modular golf course packs, just let me know!